What a Wonderful Week!
Starting my final year of an English and Journalism degree last September, I decided it was probably time for me to start thinking about the future and researching potential career ideas. My course had confirmed to me that working in a newsroom wasn’t for me, so I was starting to panic about what other options were out there.
Back in February I received an email from the careers service at my university about a week-long careers festival they were putting on, so I decided to take a look. After filtering through the sessions that interested me, the one that stood out to me was the Shooting Star Drop-In. I’d never even considered PR but after doing some research I was really intrigued, so I booked my place and went along to the session.
Arriving in the university library for the drop-in I quickly realised I was the first person to arrive, so it wasn’t long before I was sat down opposite Jez having a good old chat. We discussed my interests and how I didn’t have an awful lot of experience in the industry, so I was over the moon when he offered me the chance to join the company for a week of work experience.
Fast forward four months and here I am on my final day of work experience! I’ve really enjoyed it and it’s seriously made me think about pursuing a career in PR.
On my first day I was given the task of preparing some questions for a Q&A that would appear on one of Shooting Star’s client’s websites and was shocked when I was then asked to call the client and interview him as well. It felt good to be trusted to do something that would actually be published!
During the week I’ve also attended a client meeting, edited a website and written news releases, blog posts, features and social media posts which I’ve absolutely loved because writing is what I enjoy most. Overall I’ve had a really valuable week and feel like I have a much better understanding of what PR involves now.
Thank you to all the team at Shooting Star for organising such a good week for me and being so lovely and welcoming (I was a particular fan of the snack corner and Hugo the office dog!). Now I’m looking forward to graduating in September and seeing what’s next for me!
Leah Benthin
Work experience is a crucial part of getting a foot into the door of your chosen industry, have a look at our Director Jez’s guide to how to make the most of your work experience.
